Are you one of those people who loves watching shows and movies? And spend a lot of time watching them? But do you also think it is pointless to spend money to buy those expensive subscriptions to watch them? Or some of you may also be running out of money or has a tight budget. So, it is really good if you get a few alternatives to stream movies and shows for free. Therefore in this article, we are going to discuss some best free alternatives to Netflix.
But as you know reality is often disappointing and all these alternatives we are going to discuss in this article are close to Netflix but are not Netflix and somehow you have to compromise with quality, and with few movies and shows to some extent.
1. Pluto TV
Pluto TV with tons of movies and shows is a good option when you are looking for a free alternative to Netflix for streaming movies and shows for free.
It offers on-demand and lives TV movies and shows. There are over 250 live TV channels that broadcast indie flicks, music videos, news stations, sports events, horror shows, and comedy shows.
There are thousands of on-demand shows and movies available on Pluto TV, so whenever you cannot find something to watch on live TV then you can easily switch to on-demand TV.
Pluto TV is family-friendly and has a dedicated large family section comprising episodes from Animal Planet, Discovery, and various documentaries.
It comes with a very technology and connectivity interface also as Pluto TV is available on Smart TVs such as Samsung, Visio, Roku, and Hisense. Moreover, you can easily cast your mobile screen on your TV if you have a screencasting device like Chromecast, Xfinity, Apple TV, or Amazon Fire TV. From the developers of Pluto TV, there are also desktop apps for Apple Mac and Microsoft Windows, so if you ever want to watch movies and shows on your desktop or laptop, Pluto TV allows you to do so.
Pros:
- Dozens of movies and TV shows of different genres.
- A simple interface and easy to browse movies and Live TV channels.
- Allows you to cast a mobile screen to your Smart TV.
Cons:
- The app lacks a search feature and thus it takes time to get your movie and show.
- Can use basic features but for customization need to create an account.
- So many ads.
2. Tubi
Moving to next we have Tubi. Tubi with thousands of on-demand TV shows and movies is another good platform to consider when you are looking for a free alternative to Netflix. Sadly, Tubi does not offer any latest major box office movies at the time of release but after a few weeks, some of them are available. However, with the awesome search function in Tubi, you will find some cool and interesting titles to watch. By just entering a keyword you will get a list of familiar and unfamiliar related movies and shows.
With categories like “Highly Rated on Rotten Tomatoes”, and “Not on Netflix” you can always find something out of the league to watch and avoid aimless searching and browsing. Thus with Tubi, you can watch almost all the shows available on Netflix as well as those shows and movies that are not available on Netflix. Other categories on Tubi include cult classics, comedy, horror, action, family shows, documentaries, and many others.
Since Tubi is free and thus developers earn their revenue by ads. For every one hour of uninterrupted streaming, you have to watch a two-minute commercial, which is annoying for sure but if you’re not investing your money then you have to invest your time. And that is why there is no option to go premium on Tubi.
Tubi is perfect for streaming devices and available on ten streaming devices.
Pros:
- Offers search features for easy selections.
- Along with entertainment, it offers educational shows for children.
- Allows you to cast a mobile screen to your Smart TV.
Cons:
- The text size of closed captioning is small as compared to the standard size as per some reviews.
- Can use basic features but for customization and binge-watch need to create an account.
- The app has few glitches and the movies rewind a few seconds.
3. Xumo
Xumo with a long list of on-demand and live TV shows and movies is another good free alternative to Netflix shows and movies. It offers vivid TV channels that are much similar to broadcast TV channels. With lifestyle stations, food and travel shows, music shows, comedy channels, and more there is a list of more than 200 channels of live streaming.
However, the search function of Xumo does not function well and doesn’t return results for very many movies. So, sometimes you have to spend a significant time searching for shows and movies.
Pros:
- Allows you to cast a mobile screen to your Smart TV.
- Hundreds of movies, shows, and on-demand channels.
- Content updated and changes frequently.
Cons:
- Does not support a web browser.
- Has more shows than movies.
- The interface is not smooth and gives problems.
4. Vudu
Not all shows and movies are indeed free on the Vudu streaming service. Most of the TV shows and movies are available to rent but Vudu has more than 2 thousand movies and 2 hundred shows available for free including TV classics, indie films, special collections, anime, kids shows, and others. That is why Vudu is another alternative to Netflix. And just like Tubi, all the free content is ad-supported.
Here is a fun fact. Earlier Vudu used to be a marketing ploy to go with the Blu-rays and DVDs purchased by Walmart. Slowly with time Vudu evolved as a streaming service and grew bigger. And now Walmart is keeping adding more and more movies and shows to it.
However, you will not be able to watch the latest hits because shows and movies are not added regularly and take even years to get available on Vudu.
Pros:
- Free content is separated with a dedicated free section.
- Deliver fewer ads.
- Allows you to create a custom list of your favorites.
Cons:
- Free Walmart or Vudu account is necessary to use it.
- Allows you to cast a mobile screen to your Smart TV, but has some technical glitches and often causes problems while casting.
- Ads started in the middle of anything and thus reduce user experience.
Download Here: iOS– Android– Windows 10
5. Crackle
Started in 2005, Crackle is a streaming service from SONY. Crackle has been in the streaming services for a long and is still one the most popular and best platforms to stream content for free and that is why it is one of the must-try options when you are looking for free alternatives to Netflix.
To use Crackle you do not require any subscription and you can even watch your favorites without setting up an account, but if you do so you will be able to save your favorites, resume playback between different devices and get recommendations.
Just like all the other free streaming services, you won’t get any brand new releases, but you will get plenty of iconic hits, movies, and shows to watch as 150 feature-length movies and 75 shows available on Crackle. This is also an ad-based streaming service. You have to go through a 30-second ad before every video followed by 9 more ads for a movie longer than 90 minutes and 3 ads for small shows.
Recently it also came to know that Chicken Soup purchased Crackle for Soul Entertainment, so we can hope that the new investment might revive it and we will get more from Crackle in the future.
Pros:
- Offers free as well as the original content of Sony in good quality.
- Allows you to cast a mobile screen to your Smart TV.
- Deliver fewer ads.
Cons:
- As compared to others the content is less.
- Search features do not work properly and give fewer results.
- Some content loads very slowly while casting on TV.
Download Here: iOS– Android
READ MORE: 15 Best Apps To Watch Anime For Free Dubbed | How To Watch Anime For Free
6. NBC
There are plenty of broadcast network TV stations out there that are providing free TV streaming, and NBC is the best of these stations. NCB broadcasts all the current and latest of their daily shows. Along with these, NBC also features many latest movies on their platform.
Pros:
- Dozens of movies and TV shows of different genres to browse.
- Offers a full lineup of shows.
Cons:
- Some movies and shows do not have the description
- Need an NBC Universal Profile or TV provider to watch some shows.
7. Roku
Roku is popular and is a completely free streaming service platform. It is dedicated to free TV shows and movies. The Roku channel like any other streaming service does not license any movie, show, or other content. It just collects all the free streaming shows, movies, and live TVs from other streaming services in one place so that you can find all your favorites at one stop.
However, its services are limited to only Roku devices and web browsers. Moreover, Roku has few premia and popular movies in every genre (adventure, comedy, fantasy, sci-fi, etc)
8. PopcornFlix
It is usual to think that a website with the name PopcornFlix might be an illegal website because whenever you search “website to stream movies for free” you will get a bunch of shady websites like KatmoviesHD, FilmyZilla, 123moviesHD, and more. But luckily, PopcornFlix is a legit and legal website to stream movies and shows for free.
You will get a lot to binge watch in Indie movies, cult classics, low-budget science fiction, comedy, and horror. Moreover, like Netflix, PopcornFlix also produced its original shows and short films.
Download Here: https://www.popcornflix.com/
9. SnagFilms
At this point in the article, you can think that SnagFilms is not a big player in the field of free movies and shows. Yes, it does not offer the same amount of options as Vudu, Tubi, and others but still, there’s a good amount of content available to watch.
You will get a collection of shows from National Geographic and Discovery, old films, horror films, foreign films, comedy films, and others.
Just like other platforms, SnagFilms is also based on ad revenue to support itself. But unlike others, ads on SnagFilms are short and systematic. And there is no need to create an account to access it.
Download Here: https://www.snagfilms.com/
10. Movie HD App
Unlike other streaming platforms, Movie HD App does not host or own any content but still is a highly recommended Netflix alternative app. All the links get accumulated in a user-friendly and convenient interface of the App. From those links, you can watch the latest shows and movies on Netflix and others.
Features:
- A simple interface and easy to use.
- Can search, download and even add movies and shows to favorites.
- Fast streaming and supports quality up to 720p, and 1080p.
- User Local Cast for Chrome cast/DLNA
- Updated with the latest content every day.
11. TVZion App
With a user-friendly and reliable you will get everything at the home screen that is where you left your last watch. You can access hundreds of movies and shows for free with TVZion App.
Features:
- It comes with an awesome and very flexible interface and offers full customization and gives you everything just at your fingertips. Allows you to create different collections and lists of movies and shows. Supports full screen.
- Has different sections like trending, hots, and popular. TVZIon combines with Trakt.tv seamlessly and helps you to pick up where you left.
- TVZion is built for Android TV and is 100% optimized for it and integrates well with it.
- It detects the highest-quality link automatically and plays it for you and even autoplay the next video for you even if you are using an external player.
The Bottom Line
As we said above, if you want to save your money in the subscription of paid streaming services, then no matter what but you will have to compromise somewhere, whether in audio and video quality, latest releases, and others, because free streaming services platforms can be close to Netflix, but they can’t be Netflix.
The streaming platforms that we have discussed above are the best alternatives to Netflix to watch movies and shows free as per our team’s experience and recommendations. If you know some other alternatives to Netflix then do not forget to mention them and let us know about them in the comment section below.
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